Shards of a Memory
by Tiny Timb
Summary: 2nd in my trilogy. Jack continues to have reoccuring dreams of one girl. Suddenly, he meets her, and he realizes maybe they aren't dreams afterall. Who is she and what does she have to do with Santa Fe?


_The hour was still early, despite the already setting sun. The sun seemed anxious to make its last few hours the brightest, tossing all of its gold into windows and covering the passer-bys. The people in the streets chattered loudly over one another, each trying to best the other's conversation._

_But the lovers didn't pay attention to all of that. _

_The man, he saw, was no man at all – but was him. He could almost feel the girl's silken flesh under his fingers; he could almost taste her. The beautiful auburn tresses that surrounded them both seemed to glitter in the light. _

_His fingers itched to reach up and brush it all away, just to see her face. Finally, succumbing to the urge, he brushed a few locks away and saw her smile –_

Jack Kelly shot up in his bed, panting lightly. A cold sweat filmed all over, reminding him he was awake. He looked all around, trying to get a sense of what happened.

"Jesus…" Jack mumbled, running a hand through his hair, placing a hand on his heart in an effort to ease its speed. It was another one of those…what did they call them? Reoccurring dreams, yeah, that was it. Lately he'd been getting a lot of them…but mostly they had the same girl in them. Or was that just another part of his imagination.

He got off of his bunk silently, walking to the washroom without much more care as to who he woke up on his way. There had been a lot of dreams with her in them- nightmares, mostly. Frankly, he admitted to himself, he'd liked the most recent one a lot more.

He could almost feel her surrounding him. It had been almost too real…

Splashing water on his face, Jack snapped himself back into the real world, realizing that sleeping any more was obviously out of the question.He'd just dream about her again, he thought watching his reflection bitterly.

"Dreaming again?"

Jack jolted and spun around, coming face to face with a very amused Spot Conlon. Scowling, Jack turned back around and started to walk away. "Why are you still here, Spot? I thought you went home last night after the poker game."

Spot only grinned. To tell the truth, he'd been way to smashed to even speak, let alone walk all the way back to Brooklyn. He shrugged at Jack. "Didn't feel like leaving. You're avoiding my question. How come?"

"'Cause you already know the answer." His head pounded, and he tried to convince himself it was because he drank the night before. Jack glared jealously at Spot. "Why don't you have a hangover?" His friend only shrugged.

"Was it that girl again? Come on, you can tell your old friend, Spot! What was it about? Did she run off again? Did you figure out how she ties to…" He was quickly cut off by Jack's hand slapping over his mouth.

"Spot…you're talking too much too early. Go back to bed." And leaving it at that, Jack walked to the window, opened it, climbed out onto the fire escape, and shut the window behind him.

Spot glared after him and rubbed his mouth off, making a face of disgust.

"...Sad how it burned down. Farewell sweet Irving Hall!"

"Shut up, Race, she set up another theatre down the road."

"I know…but it'll never be Irving Hall! So many memories…so many beautiful ladies!" Racetrack sighed. "So much money lost…"

Jack stared at the building in front of him. It was true; there were a lot of memories from here. But the building hadn't been destroyed, just charbroiled, he thought with a smirk. Inside, all the seats had been burned, but the stage was still intact. And now, for some reason, he felt as if he could hear someone singing from the inside. Stupid, he thought. Nobody had been in there for 3 months.

"Hellooo…Earth to Cowboy!" Race reached up and rapped smartly on Jack's skull.

Jack snapped out of his thoughts, and smacked Racetrack away. "What! What the matter with you!"

"What's the matter with me? You were the one in La-La-Land." Race said defensively with a sniff.

"Yeah Jack, what's up with you lately?" Kid Blink asked with a weary eye.

Jack, knowing what they were referring to, decided to ignore the question. Instead he focused on the song he heard that seemed to waft from within the burnt hall.

"I'll be right back…" He said distractedly, walking slowly towards the building, and finally pushing open the charred door, disappearing inside.

"Well I- Okay then." Blink said sighing. "Crazy loon, that boy."

"A very tall crazy loon. One that'd beat you if he'd heard you." Race pointed out with a raised brow as they began walking off.

Inside the hall, Jack blinked rapidly as his eyes readjusted to the dark. Once they did, he looked around and searched for the source of the song that was getting louder as he walked.

A feminine voice, he thought. It was pretty, but they didn't need to be in here.

That's when he spotted her.

A brilliant mass of auburn hair swung about her as she danced; the song she sang reverberating off the walls. The Hall seemed to hum with her, alive with the music she'd brought with her. Indeed, it looked as if it was entranced.

Jack knew _he_ was.

Snapping out of it, Jack called out to her. "Hey! What do you think you're doing in here!"

Startled, the girl fell backwards onto her bottom and winced. "Well, I WAS dancing. Then you made me fall. Happy?" She complained, getting up and dusting herself off. Then she looked up.

The power in those blue eyes almost had Jack stumbling back. Even from a distance he saw that those electric blue eyes would like nothing more than to slice right through him.

I've seen that look before, he thought. I've seen _her _before…

Have you noticed by now that I LOVE cliffhangers! lol Please review!


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